Md. GOP Wants Voters to Decide on Congressional Map

Maryland Republicans have collected enough signatures to possibly force a referendum on the state’s new congressional district map approved earlier this year.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the petitions still must be verified by the Maryland Board of Elections, a process that could end up throwing out some of the 63,030 signatures collected so far.

Republicans, led by state Del. Neil Parrott, need at least 55,736 valid signatures to let the voters decide whether the map, which is expected to add at least one more Democratic seat to the state’s congressional delegation, is acceptable.

The Republicans charge the new map has split communities and put them into absurdly drawn districts clearly designed to give Democrats an unfair advantage.

According to the Sun, a state circuit court judge described one district as “reminiscent of a broken-winged pterodactyl, lying prostrate across the center of the state.”